Negative Nancy and Happy Harriet

Twice I’ve written and re-written the opening to a Podcast I hope to launch soon based on my book The ABC’s of Education.  My middle of the night jet lag awakening last night did not bring me dreams of my high school peers nor sex (sects) crimes but instead offered me a new beginning. The previous one felt as true as true can be, but basically hit the listener over the head with a hammer to get their attention. It’s a strategy and one I hate when I get those political pleas “BAD NEWS!!! WE’RE REELING!!” and a good reminder that leading people in through some door of hope always feels better than dragging them in through the porthole of fear. That people need to hear truth but prefer the light side of the moon over the dark when asked to consider it.

 

But judge for yourself. Below is the opening of my first draft, followed by the revised second. Which would entice you more?

 

FIRST DRAFT

“We are in a race between education and catastrophe.”   H.G. Wells

 

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was a huge energy hit for the horse of Catastrophe to pull ahead in this never-ending race. People whose motto was “My ignorance is just as good as your education” were given permission to use their power to vote, with devastating results. Education made a comeback in 2020, but now in 2024, the two seem to be running neck and neck. Catastrophe is not giving up yet, indeed, it seems to have changed the rules of the race by moving the finish line behind us, running toward a “great again America” that never was. It’s scrambling, with alarming success, to reverse all signs of progress toward equal rights and justice made in the last fifty years with the Supreme Court by their side. It is unashamedly banning books and blocking telling the truth to children in schools, again, with the law on their side. How did this happen?

 

May I suggest something here? Amidst all the huffing and puffing between the two political parties, I rarely hear the word “education” enter the debate. Mostly it feels like we’re putting band-aids on cancer. But as a teacher of children for over a half-a-century, a teacher of teachers, an author of education books, I’m convinced that re-imagining schools is precisely the chemotherapy that gets to the root of the disease. 

 

SECOND DRAFT

It’s September. School has begun again and with it comes the possibility that this time we’ll get it right. Meaning that it might be a place where happy children are taught by happy teachers and each day rings with promise, hope, excitement and enthusiasm. For that to happen, we have to take a moment to pause and ask ourselves questions that get us over the line of business as usual. We have to ask parents some simple things that we actually rarely, if ever, ask them. Things like: “What do you hope that a school offer your child? “ I imagine just about everyone would agree on answers like these:

 

1)   Teach my children what they need to know to prosper, thrive and be successful in their later life.

2)   Provide a safe environment, both physically and emotionally. 

3)   Be a place where teachers get to know my children, appreciate them, quirky parts and all, enjoy them, help them, understand them. 

4)   Provide a feeling of community where all feel welcome and valued. 

5)   Challenge my children, feed their curiosity, help them develop good work habits.

6)   Allow them to be children and play their way into understanding. 

 

You get the idea. Here’s what most parents probably wouldn’t say.

 

1)   Teach my children that knowledge is irrelevant and ignorance is just fine.

2)   Allow them to bully or be bullied by others. Feed their stress and anxiety. 

3)   Be a place where teachers care nothing for my children’s gifts, interests, challenges and needs. 

4)   Favor kids with some backgrounds and dismiss the rest. 

5)   Let my kids slack off and only work hard enough to get the right answers on the tests by any means necessary. 

6)   Expect them to sit still, don’t ask questions, replace recess with studying for tests.

 

Doesn’t matter who you are— class, race, gender, sexual preference, religion, political allegiance. Whether you’ve taken the trouble to have children or had them thrust upon you, imagine you’re looking for a place where they will spend more time than in your home and give it as much attention as you do when shopping or deciding where to live or vacation. Hard to imagine anyone would willing choose the second kind of school over the first. Don’t you agree?  ( 8/21)